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2016-01-29

Mad Max : Fury Road

A woman rebels against a
tyrannical ruler in post apocalyptic Australia in search for her homeland with
the help of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper, and a drifter
named Max.

In this tale
of survival, Max (Tom Hardy) is in a
dystopian future where a nuclear war destroyed almost everything on Earth except
some ressources, read here; water, gas, lots of guns and ammo, and cars. The Humanity
is almost back at the stone age, survivors are in clans led by a few lucky ones
and plenty of slaves starving and working for their leader Joe and his court
that has water, plants, and luxury. Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) drives a convoy to exchange water for gas but she
decides to rebel and tries to go back to her homeland where she can live free.

The fact that
Mad Max : Fury Road was highly
praised by respected cirtics and magazines doesn’t do justice to the film
itself. It is one of the best action films of all time. The mastery of the
storytelling and the shooting of the action sequences shows how great action
can be filmed. George Miller is a true Akira Kurosawa fan and the late Japanese
master was his inspiration working on the Mad
Max franchise. The action sequences of Seven
Samurai are still today some of the most influential sequences ever filmed.
A real tour de force without CGI or any real special effects. It is not only
the technique of these action sequences but how they feel real and impress the
viewer. A reaction at such a stimuli is quite something and George Miller at almot 70 years old matured and mastered his craft at making action films. Mad Max : Fury Road is the culmination of this brilliant career.

Speaking of influence, Henri-Georges Clouzot's The Wages of Fear is another obvious classic action film that surely been in the mind of Miller when making his Mad Max franchise.

As a action
film fan but a virgin of the Mad Max
franchise it was a pure delight discovering it with the 2015 entry. Added to
that, the film has a total of 10 nominations for the 88th ceremony of the Academy
Awards. Most of them are technical (Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best
Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Production Design,
Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Costume Design) but they have two
in the most important categories : Best Director and Best Picture. All 10
are deserved and the film is so far my personal favorite to win statuettes.

It’s been a
long time since I had such a great time watching a recent action film and not
just for the action sequences but also for the entire aspect of it all and the
great use of symbolism and pure storytelling that at some point reminded me of
Howard Hawks’ great films like Hatari!.
Miller just like Hawks know how to make great studio films and this is
something that is getting difficult to find nowadays.